1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a method of setting a driver program that drives an image processing device, and more particularly, to a method of setting a user interface of a driver program that allows the driver program not to interfere with an acquisition result of an application program operated by a user when the driver program of the image processing device is displayed over the application program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a scanner and other types of image processing devices, such as a multifunction device with a scanning unit, scan a document and convert the scanned result into image data in a predetermined file format, such as a JPEG or a TIFF format, which is, in turn, transmitted to a host, such as a computer. In the computer, a driver program for driving the scanner is installed, and an application program for processing the image data generated by the scanner can also be installed. Examples of the application program are the Photoshop software program by Adobe Systems Incorporated, the Paint software program, and the like. Meanwhile, these application programs are not capable of having direct access to the image data read by the scanner, but are capable of accessing the image data in the file format. In this case, in order for the application program to acquire the image data, there is an inconvenience of requiring several sequential steps to acquire the image data. First, the image data of the document is stored in the file format by operating a scanner program. Then, the scanner program is terminated, and the application program is subsequently operated to access the image data saved in the file format.
Currently, the aforementioned application programs access the image data read by the scanner through a tool-kit without an important name (TWAIN) driver in an operating system, so that the application programs can directly access the read image data.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional scanning system including a host 100 for processing image data scanned by a scanner 200.
Referring to FIG. 1, the host 100 includes a storage medium 110 having an application program 113, a TWAIN driver 112 and a driver program 111, a control block 120 having a central processing unit (CPU) and a random access memory (RAM), an input device 130, and a display unit 140. In FIG. 1, the application program 113, the TWAIN driver 112 and the driver program 111 are abbreviated respectively as APP, TWAIN and DRIVER.
When the application program 113 for processing the image data, e.g., the Photoshop application program, calls the image data, the application program 113 controls the scanner 200 through the driver program 111 to scan a document (not shown).
The driver program 111, the TWAIN driver 112 and the application program 113 included in the storage medium 110 of the host 100 are operated under a typical Windows operating system or a Linux operating system.
The scanner 200 is operated by the driver program 111 and inputs a scanned result, i.e., the image data, to the storage medium 110. At this time, the image data is input to the TWAIN driver 112 through the driver program 111, and the application program 113 can directly acquire the image data through the TWAIN driver 112. That is, it is unnecessary for the application program 113 to access the image data stored in a file format created by an additional scanner program.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary result obtained as an application program window 213 and a TWAIN driver window 212 are displayed on a screen.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, as a user starts an application program window 213, if the user wishes to acquire the image data through the application program window 213, a TWAIN driver window 212 that interfaces the driver program 111 with the application program 113 is displayed over the application program window 213. Here, the TWAIN driver 112 allows the application program 113 to directly access the image data created by the scanner 200. When the TWAIN driver window 212 is displayed, the user is able to access the image data while the application program 113 operates. However, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the TWAIN driver window 212 blocks the image data displayed by the application program window 213.
The TWAIN driver window 212 includes a control menu 215 for controlling the image data acquired through the application program 113. In particular, the control menu 215 of the TWAIN driver window 212 includes sub-control menus of an image type control menu 215a, a resolution control menu 215b, an image area control menu 215c and an image size control menu 215d. The control menu 215 adjusts the image data as the user sets the various sub-control menus of the control menu 215. The TWAIN driver window 212 also includes a menu bar 216, a scan button 217, and a preview button 218.
In a case in which the user wishes to scan more than one document, the user has a difficulty in confirming a displayed image of the acquired image data. Also, when the user clicks the TWAIN driver window 212 by using the input device 130, such as a mouse, to move the TWAIN driver window 212 into a different position of the screen, the control block 120 starts operating to handle an interruption made by the input device 130 and as a result, there is a delay in processing the image data by the application program window 113.
In a case in which the scanner 200 scans a number of documents consecutively, it may be impossible or difficult to move the position of the TWAIN driver window 212 through the use of the input device 130. Also, when an image of the image data accessed by the application program window 213 is displayed on the screen, the user may have a difficulty in confirming the acquired image data since the TWAIN driver window 212 blocks the displayed image on the screen.